I'd take out the Mind Rots (as there are better discard out there) for 2 more Guul Draz as they really give you a Kill Engine. They're either a 5/5 flyer, or a 2/2 flyer that will have them discard a card. Then for it to be competitive at FNM you'd have to come up with a good side board for your meta. (I might also drop the 4th vess for another Doom Blade.) Also if black is a heavy color at FNM drop Doom Blade for Go for the Throat.
Permalink
I'd suggest taking out the Darksteel Axe and the Quest's and throwing in the 4th Mystic... There is never a time where you going to search for the Darksteel Axe, nor a time when you're going to wish you drew the Axe. Quest is at best going off on turn 5 for you (likely turn 6), and is then just finding you another equipment when you've likely drawn into 2 or 3 and found a 4th with Mystic... I'd say drop those 5 cards for creatures... theres nothing worse than having a ton of equipment lying around and no creatures to put it on... Perhaps drop 3 quests for 1 Mystic, 2 Puresteels. Drop 2 Dark Steel for 2 White Sun Zenith. The cat tokens are more fearsome when they've got some mythic weapon to hold.
I'd suggest swapping out the Dark Tutelage for something such as Sign in Blood or Tezet Gambit. Sign in Blood offers you another way to activate Bloodchief, while Tez offers you another Proliferate. Also you might want to consider some different cards for the side board. (Such as ways to deal with vengivine, valkut, or what have you). Surgical Extraction(?)
Looking at this deck further... I'd suggest removing blue completely... That brings you to 60 cards... To give you more wiggle room I'd side deck / remove the Blind Zealot as your 3 cost slot is full of already good cards.
If your plan is to play Jin normally I'd quickly take him out. If your plan is to discard Jin with Karn... then he's deckable but I still don't love him. Having 2 of's makes it hard to rely on the card so a 2 of Jin 2 of Karn... you might have a game where you draw Jin and can't play him the whole game. Phyrexian Obliterator will also be really hard to cast in this deck as is. I'd suggest running 14 swamps, 10 islands, and 4 lead myr instead of your 50:50 split. Your Mana Curve also looks off... Your not going to cast Gatekeeper as a 2 cost so you really have. 2: 1 drops 12: 2 drops 21: 3 drops 2: 4 drops ---- ---- 4: 7 Drops 1: 10 Drop
With Liliana's Caress each discard is dealing 2 damage (so think of it as a Discard + Shock). The deck will likely have his opponent Top-Decking answers, so His Guul Draz Specter is more likely a 5/5 flier which will quickly finish the job. The great thing about running 8 (1 cost) hand pickers, is that you'll likely always know what your opponent has in hand, and will be able to proactively deal with those threats. This deck then turns proactively dealing with those threats into damage and a kill engine of its own. Sign in blood gives the deck reach, allowing him to not only fill his opponent hands (so he can shock him twice more) but also hit him for 2 extra damage. (Conversely he can simply use it for himself he needs answers of his own). Lil Vess can search up an answer to a creature problem (finding either Black Sun or Doom Blade) In all I like the deck a lot.
With only 2 Quests you're not likely to Draw one early. Sign in Blood may help you out getting them to have to discard later, but if you're going to play with Quest I'd say it's a 4 of (and looks like it would work in this deck). Otherwise I'd suggest swapping out the 2 Quests with either extra Vess (as you've only got a 1 in 30 chance of drawing her) or 2 Painful Quandarys Personally I would run this deck minus the 2 Quests, minus the 2 Grave Titans and throw in 3 Painful Quandarys and an extra Lil Vess.
Deck placed 2nd at a local FNM, lost to Caw-Blade in the finals after a Day of Judgement in the first game and a Third Jace / Ink Moth the second.
The deck was originally supposed to look more like the Soul Sisters and be mono white, however I've found the controlling variant works better at keeping both you and your creature alive. I've recently experimented with more counters in the Main Deck by swapping out the Sejiri Merfolk with Mana Leak.
As the deck stands now it is Type II standard. There is an enchantment in standard that "Doubles your life total" which would be absurd and almost insure victory in this deck but is a 6 cost enchantment that will be removed or blocked consistently.
21-30 of 30 items